Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Iron Kingdoms Roleplaying Game and
Retribution of Scyrah Lists

I have recently been invited to
play in an Iron Kingdoms Fantasy Roleplaying game with a few friends of
mine. Now I had posted a while back in
my Breaking up with Dungeons and Dragons 4.0 topic that I was rather done with
most role playing games as Wargaming took the driver’s seat with most of my
free time (what little exists anymore!).
Now the Deployment Zone podcast had spent two episodes describing the
Iron Kingdoms Roleplaying System as well as playing through a quick game to
test out the mechanics. During that time
my gaming group had listened to the podcast and decided that they would run a
campaign after the holidays and tie it into a Warmachine/Hordes map
campaign. So the six of us are going to
play a map based Warmachine/Hordes/Iron Kingdoms campaign and roleplaying game
with the map campaign being over for both systems in summer and the roleplaying
game continuing for an undetermined amount of time.

The Full Metal
Fantasy Campaign Rules:1. You are to submit one faction to
play for each game, Hordes and Warmachine.

2. You are allowed
to field 2 lists per game system.

3. Each list must
be 50 pts.

4. You are to
submit one character for the Iron Kingdoms Roleplaying Game. You do not have to play a character from the
same faction as your armies.

5. You are expected to play in the Iron Kingdoms
Roleplaying Game twice a month and the map based Warmachine/Hordes campaign
once a month (once per faction – 2 games a month).’

6. Iron Kingdoms
characters are to start at level 1.

Map Based Campaign
Rules:

1. You are limited
to 2 hexes of movement per turn.
Movement into another territory takes 1 hex of movement, regardless of
the type of terrain (water, mountains, etc..)2. You may only attack a
faction/army an adjacent hex away.
Attacking requires 1 hex of movement.

3. You may only
garrison territories that have been claimed for more than one game turn. (i.e.
you can not garrison a territory the same turn as you conquer it)

4. Garrisoning a
territory requires 1 hex of movement and will allow you to defend the territory
against invaders.

5. Non-garrisoned
territories may not be defended and are automatically captured.

6. Capitols are
automatically considered garrisoned.

7. There will be 4
Seasons, each Season consisting of 3 Game Turns.

8. A player’s
faction is wiped out when there are no territories occupied by that player’s
army.

9. The winner is
determined to be the player with the most territories.

10. Players may
not “aid” their other faction with their other army. The two armies are treated as aggressive when
adjacent and may not be treated as “Neutral” territories and therefore able to
be passed through. When a player is
forced to invade a territory controlled by his other faction, if it is
garrisoned then the Campaign Master will play the defender for that match.

11. Two players
may agree to be “Neutral” with one another for a single Game Turn. While two players are neutral, players may
move through each other’s territories without engaging in combat. Hordes and Warmachine factions may not be
Neutral with each other and are always considered Aggressive.

12. You may only
declare neutrality once per Season.

So with
this set of rules established for the campaign, I set about drafting up both my
army lists and my character for the game.
I have decided upon for Warmachine the Retribution of Scyrah and for
Hordes the Circle Orboros. The lists
I’m going to use are detailed below:

Retribution
of Scyrah: The Company of the Damned

Circle
Orboros – The Great Hunt

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys Wyshnalyrr

-Banshee

-Banshee

Arcanist

Arcanist

Mage Hunter Assassin

Mage Hunter Assassin

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Ghost Sniper

Ghost Sniper

Mage Hunter Infiltrators – Leader &
5 Grunts

-Eiryss, Mage
Hunter Commander

Mage Hunter Strike Force – Leader &
5 Grunts

-Strike Force
Commander

Stormfall Archers – Leader & 3
Grunts

Total: 50 pts.

Grayle the Farstrider

-Pureblood
Warpwolf

-Warpwolf Stalker

-Winter Argus

War Wolf

War Wolf

War Wolf

Reeve Hunter

Wolf Lord Morraig

Reeves of Orboros – Leader & 5
Grunts

-Reeves of
Orboros Chieftain & Standard Bearer

Wolves of Orboros – Leader & 5
Grunts

-Wolves of
Orboros Chieftain & Standard Bearer

Warpborn Skinwalkers – Leader & 4
Grunts

-Warpborn
Skinwalker Alpha

Total: 50 pts

Claw & Fang Theme – Tier 3

Retribution
of Scyrah: Fires from on High

Circle
Orboros: The Heart Eaters

Adeptis Rahn

-Sylys
Wyshanalyrr

-Discordia

-Hyperion

Arcanist

House Shyeel Magister

House Shyeel Magister

House Shyeel Artificer

House Shyeel Artificer

Stormfall Archers – Leader & 3
Grunts

House Shyeel Battle Mages – Leader
& 5 Grunts

House Shyeel Battle Mages – Leader
& 5 Grunts

Total: 50 pts.

Fires from on High Theme – Tier 4

Kromac the Ravenous

-Warpwolf Stalker

-Gnarlhorn Satyr

-Shadowhorn Satyr

Lord of the Feast

Tharn Ravager White Mane

Tharn Ravager White Mane

Tharn Ravagers – Leader & 5 Grunts

-Tharn Ravager
Chieftain

-Tharn Ravager
Shaman

Tharn Ravagers – Leader & 3 Grunts

-Tharn Ravager
Chieftain

The Heart Eaters – Tier 4

I am
hopeful that I will be able to field 1-2 games a session with the two
factions. We shall have to see.

My Iron Kingdoms character is an
Iosan Mage Hunter/ Cutthroat and as many of you have already probably predicted
his name is Sylvos. I will post his
character sheet for your viewing pleasure after the first session.
I will be providing hopefully bi-weekly updates on the Full Metal
Fantasy Campaign for both the Map Campaign and the Roleplaying Game. Until then, that’s it for now!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

I've managed to complete assembly on my K'Daai Destroyer w/ the Brazen Wings upgrade (via Storm of Magic) for my Warriors of Chaos list I plan on taking to OFCC 2014 this year.

I really did very little work converting this, I bought a Maulerfiend and attached a set of minotaur horns and some manticore wings. However if this happens to be like the most awesome conversion ever then I will totally change gears and complain about the sheer difficulty that was involved in it's conceptualization....

Enough talking pictures inc:

Next up we have the list for OFCC 2014.
I have yet to add all my fancy Roleplaying Names and titles to the units as I am accustomed to doing, however the theme is fairly straight forward. I will be using a Chaos Lord mounted on a Daemonic mount taking his legion through the frozen north into the fiery and deathly Dark Lands (hey isn't that were your Beastmen hail from? omg THEME) where he assembles more of his forces. I'm using Lore of Fire this go around cause, why not?

Here's the list, I'm sure I'll have some existential description that will make it relevant to some social moray and as a result empower my readers to do what's right and just... or they will just say "bitchin dude!".

Friday, January 24, 2014

Hello everyone,As many know I have begun assembly of my Warriors of Chaos list for OFCC Fantasy this year. In the list I wanted to have units that fit the theme so the K'Daai destroyer was a natural fit!Anyway here are two WIP images pre-wings attachment.The first and second is before I added the minotaur horns. I choose minotaur because the Ghorgon set was just too large and dwarfed the actual head of the Maulerfiend.

The third image should show the wings that I plan to use. I had been unable to find a suitable type of clockwork wings or steampunk wings that would work well with the model so the Manticore wings fit the bill.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

It
is always difficult to embrace change, especially when you have become very
used to performing tasks a specific way.When the 8th edition of Warhammer Fantasy came out back in July of 2010,
many players were upset because they were forced to adapt their armies and play
styles to a new format.The game changed
on a scale that required a hard reboot on how many people not only built their
armies but also how they played the game.The idea of Multiple Small Unit (MSU) armies went the way of the dodo
and the era of large units and destructive magic began.As I had just gotten back into Fantasy about
a year and a half before 8th edition had come out, I only had one
army to really update and that was my Wood Elves.When I made the decision to update the army,
I had to look at how the new game system operated, what rules directly impacted
my army the most and most importantly what tools I would need in order to survive
in the new “age” of Warhammer Fantasy.The
fortunate part of updating at the beginning of the new edition was that I was
able to embrace the new edition with open arms because I knew a new army book
was not coming out soon and I would be able to play with the army for a long time.I also was aware that all of my old tactics
would not be useful and as a result be providing a disadvantage to me rather
than help me be successful.

So
for my Wood Elf army I capitalized on Mobility, Focused Firepower and Assassination
as my primary objectives for building the army.I was able to break down how I felt the game would flow and make tactics
and decisions about the army that created positive results and I was able to
use units that the “current meta” or “tournament” scene did not find
useful.There were many of our gaming clubs
however that did not embrace the new edition and struggled with realigning
their tactics to work with the new rule set.Some of those players quit, took breaks from playing or struggled
through the edition until they figured out what worked for them.Therein lays the issue that many gamers face,
a lot of people like making “a list” that they use over and over.Gamers prefer what is familiar and as a
result will seek to use that which is familiar in their gaming.Many struggle for a while when a new book or
edition comes out because they are forced to reprogram their mind as to how the
unit works in the new book from the old book.

With
the release of 6th edition Warhammer 40,000 in June 2012, I was
faced with a similar dilemma.I had been
playing 40k 5th edition so much with the same “lists” for my Eldar
and Black Templars that most games were almost auto-pilot in some regards.However in 6th edition, Games
Workshop completely changed the way the game system worked.In 5th edition the Assault phase
was king, and armies that brought units that could unleash a hellstorm of
attacks in close combat were devastating.You could blast your transports forward at full tilt and if they
survived the next turn because they weren’t Destroyed or Exploded, you could
disembark your death squad and assault the hell out of your opponent.Now in 6th edition, the game is
far more shooting oriented.Assault
armies have been nullified and the day of the bolt-gun has dawned and the day
of the chainsword has set.An incredible
amount of army configurations were nullified when 6th edition came
out, especially with the advent of Allies and Fortifications.So with all the changes to transports,
shooting, assaults, the reimplementation of overwatch, flyers, pre-measuring
and Look out Sirs, the additional confounding issue that I ran into was that
two of my armies were getting updated within a few months of each other.

With
all of these compounding changes and rules, I began to struggle with trying to
build the “list” to use in this new edition.I then ran into the additional issue with the release of the Escalation
and Stronghold Assault rule sets.It
became painfully apparent that the days of having “one list to rule them all”
were long over.Keep in mind
that until my children were born I was pretty keen on being a competitive
player in both Fantasy and 40k.As my
children reached their delivery date, I began to slowly back away from that
mentality as my free time to spend playing in tournaments was severely
impacted.There are now far too many
variables and options to make a viable and competitive all comers list that you
could participate with in a tournament.The advent of D weapons in standardized game play and the Forge World
becoming official.Games Workshop
suddenly began inundating the market with options and rules for everyone and
marked all of these options as “Official”.

So
with all these new options and accessible rules, I still struggled trying to
come up with a list that I felt was “right”.

It has been pointed out to me that once I have
decided upon a theme that is loosely or tightly based off what I feel is fluff
that I will put arbitrary restrictions on myself on what I feel “fits” the way
a specific chapter, craftworld or army should be played and what units it
should contain.

Despite
my own self imposed restrictions which tend to be more of a hindrance than
helpful, I am faced with updating two armies I have owned for a very long time;
my Black Templars and my Ulthwe` Eldar.I played both of these armies as assault armies in 5th
edition, so when the new codices were released I realized that the days of
ramming it up the center and assaulting with a hammer were over.The reason is mainly because these days
everyone and their mother bring more than enough firepower to deal with a unit
or two breaching their perimeter.Tactics and strategies I once used are now no longer viable.What is a player to do in an edition where
his army book and rule set have changed within six months of each other?An additional conundrum is what is a player
to do when new rules have been implemented that change the entire face of the battlefield?

The
answer is simple in this respect.It
took me a few weeks to figure out what I wanted to do mainly because I have
always built a list first then built the army after.Any small tactical changes which required
units being swapped out was always done in the initial stages as to now waste
money or time.Now I have to throw all
of that methodology out and adopt the new practice of building units that I am
familiar with or like and making a list when the game is decided upon.It is entirely possible that in a week I
could be invited to play a 2,000 point game of 40k, a 1500 point game of 40k, a
2.5k game of 40k with Lord of War allowances and a 2000 point game with
Stronghold Assault rules.A single
list isn’t going to be very effective in all those games but having units that
I like and know how to use is.

So enter the age of the
collection lists and bid a fond farewell to the days of the static all comers
list used in every game.Enter the age
of lists that will have more guns than blades and where the battlefield and battleforce
are equally dynamic.Enter the age of
spending more time creating a unit with a story and then fleshing out that
story every time you play.Lastly, enter
the age were its finally possible to build a narrative and create a fun and
exciting game.

While this issue isn’t as
prevalent in Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition, I still have a Wood Elf
army that will need to be updated in 2014 which I am both excited and dreading!

Armies on the
Update Docket:1. Ulthwe` Eldar – I want to create a themed Ulthwe` Strike Force that
I can sub out options and maintain the Guardian and Seer Council theme.

2.Black Templars –
I want to build a narrative crusade full of characters, knights and zealots who
are still determined to bring the Emperor’s wrath by bolter and chainsword.

3.Wood Elves –
this army will be getting updated sometime this year.I can only pray that they do a good job with
the book and do not unintentionally make most of its builds impossible to play
successfully.

So I’ll wrap up this long winded
whine with the realization that I have become more casual than competitive and
honestly, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. That is not to say that whatever lists I use are not going to be efficient and cock-punching but I can guarantee they will be fluffy themed and fun too!

Hopefully, this year will be filled with interesting and
fun hobby updates as I build my armies.

I decided to kick off the new year right by assembling a slew of new models to jumpstart the hobby for 2014!

Since it was painfully apparent that I was not the most productive hobbyist in 2013, I think that ensuring that I have my 50 point armies and the heroes of my Warriors of Chaos army assembled is a good step in the right direction!

You may also see the primed Mierce Miniatures Minotaurs in the background who are set on wine corks and ready to be painted. Those hopefully will be done soon.

Below is the Warpborn Skinwalker Alpha. One of my favorite models by Privateer Press but also one of my least favorite to assemble. I am never a fan of spikes that are too small to pin being included (being too small to pin means the small drill I have which is super tiny is too wide for the bit) or pieces that are just weird to attach such as a jaw.
End result however looks great.

The Mage Hunter Infiltrators are a neat set. The models come without arms attached and the arms specifically match their models torso. Now I hate pinning diagonal angles which is what I had to do on half of these things. It's a pain in the ass, learn to cast in plastic if you can't do it right.

If you will note, I have the new Eiryss model included as well. I am not a fan of this model for various reasons. The model is very thin and feels spindly for starters, the models metal cloak is too thin to pin and has two connection points at her shoulders. The models arms are barely pinnable as I had to be captain awesome to get the angle right to pin. Lastly the crossbow she has can in no way be properly pinned since the metal is not only too soft but also the connection point is too small. Usually Privateer Press is awesome about the models they cast, this one however is a fail.

Lastly we have the two metal characters in the Warriors of Chaos army. The Chaos Lord on a Daemonic Mount was relatively easy to assemble however I had to cut pieces of rod to serve as spikes since the spikes that come with the model are too small to pin and kept snapping off despite my best glue jobs. Also, as you can see I have the Archaon, the Chosen laid out in pieces on my cutting mat. He will be assembled next. I can not wait!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Last year I published the 2nd “Year in Review”
where I rehashed the goals for 2012 and how well I did with meeting them.Well this year will be no different!I have a whole bunch of 2013 goals and
aspirations that I totally failed to meet and take great joy in talking about
them!

Let’s kick this off!

Ten Goals for 2013
and The Company of the Damned

1.Finish paniting the 2800 point Bretonnian army
for OFCC 2013 Fantasy – Success

2.Purchase, assemble and paint a Wood Elf Blood
Bowl Team – Failure

3.Fully catalogue the Wood Elf army book in the
Wood Elf Tactica Library and provide an entry for every current army book under
the Preferred Enemies articles – Failure

4.Assemble and paint the 2000 point Dark Eldar
army using the Crimson Sigil army list posted in the blog. – Failure

5.Assemble and paint the rest of the 50 point
Retribution of Scyrah army. – Failure

10.Promote and double the current listener audience
for the Deployment Zone podcast – Failure

As you can see I was not the
most successful hobbyist as far as reaching my goals for 2013.Most of these I was partially successful in.

Examples:

1.I purchased and assembled the Wood Elf Blood
Bowl Team.

2.I catalogued 2 Wood Elf Tactica and 6 Preferred
Enemies articles.

3.I assembled and painted 1100 points of Dark
Eldar.

4.I assembled 122 points of Retribution of Scyrah.

5.I assembled 68 points of Circle Orboros.

6.I assembled 35 soul stones worth of Malifaux.

7.We increased our listener base by 18% this past
calendar year for the Deployment Zone and the blog increased its membership by
21%.

Major
Accomplishments of 2013 for the Company of the Damned

1.I won the Operation #Steakbet and it was
glorious.

2.I managed to build in 2 weeks 70% of my
unassembled models.

3.I ran a successful online 40k Campaign called
The Black Spiral and had over 220 submissions.

4.Built and played with my first De Bellis
Antiquitatis army – The Vikings.

5.Bought my first air brush!

I see now that I didn’t have
many Major Accomplishments in the hobby because I realized that fatherhood is
time consuming and it’s extremely important to be focused on being a dad first
and a hobbyist second.As my girls grow
I find myself having more time to do hobby stuff while they go to sleep which
is good, so for 2014 I think I’m going to keep things kind of simple for goals
and see where that leads me.

The Company of
the Damned goals for 2014!

1.Assemble and paint 2800 points of Warriors of
Chaos.

2.Update my Wood Elf army when the new book comes
out this year.

3.Update my Black Templars with a few units.

4.Update my Ulthwe` Eldar with a few units.

5.Paint 50 points of Retribution of Scyrah.

6.Paint 50 points of Circle Orboros.

7.Post at least four articles a month on the blog
whether they be hobby updates, tournament/event coverage, unit tactica or random
crap.

There we have it folks, the
crazy goals for 2014.I hope this year
proves to be more productive than last year but at the same token if it’s not…
no big deal.